Field asset management is an essential practice for organizations with a mobile workforce that uses, installs, and maintains high value assets in a service delivery role inventory, but it is also an area often overlooked in the company inventory management process. Control of high value assets, including without limitation, tools, test sets, computers, customer premise equipment, company facility equipment, technicians, vehicles, and circuit boards, is handled fairly well up to the point that those assets are sent to a technician work-reporting location and are “mobilized” in a technician vehicle. At that “point of mobility” however, documentation, inventory, control, and real-time information about high value items become a problem.
Today, there are many and various high value field asset management processes in use; typically, these processes involve paperwork inventories, bar code scanning, and computer or handheld inputs. The issue with paperwork-based, bar code scanning, and computer input accountability of high value assets in a mobile workforce environment is that such processes require manual effort by the technician. Far too often, the technician does not fill out the paperwork correctly or in a timely manner. Even the ease of bar code scanning takes extra effort and thus is prone to less than perfect accountability. Many radio frequency (“RF”) solutions have limitations working in and around the metal that comprises a technician vehicle. Also, due to the nature of RF transceivers, it is difficult to contain the coverage to just that inside the vehicle so that items leaving the vehicle can be read as they leave the vehicle space.
Hence, there is a need for asset tracking for the mobile workforce that reduces or minimizes work effort for supervisors and technicians. It would be beneficial if the asset details were available in real-time so that a “current view” is available.